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When Steve Jobs first birthed the iPad, many folks in my industry lampooned it as a giant iPhone – without the phone. Most of us thought it would float like a concrete balloon. Boy, were we ever wrong. Goes to show you that a tech stock day trader, I ain’t!
So here I go with yet another fearless prediction since my last one was so spot on: The tablet will NOT replace the notebook, or the PC. Read More
By now we have seen all the press clippings and hype on how the cloud has changed the world for the better and that if you are still running your back office in the front office – well, what are you waiting for? Havent you heard? The cloud will single-handedly revolutionize your business! It will make you rich, free up all of your time and probably cure baldness too! Ok, so maybe not but you get the point. The cloud is pretty over hyped for sure. And as someone who has helped many clients move many of their services to the cloud, I can honestly tell you, there is a dark side. Don’t get fooled; much of the hype does not pass further inspection and you can be sure that like everything else in life, every pro has it’s con(job). Here is a list of some stuff that got left off of the shiny marketing brochure the cloud services guy left behind. Read More
OK – so we’re at the end of Week 2 of 2012 and it’s time for a show of hands… Who is still making it out to the gym 3 times a week? Or getting up before dawn to go jogging (I don’t think so!)? Or still on that slow carb diet? Hello, anybody out there? Bueller? Bueller?
Alright, so maybe there’s a few of you still clinging to the notion that you will quit smoking, lose weight, take up yoga and <insert your self-improvement goal here>. Fact is most folks have broken their resolution long before viewing the cute little fuzzy ducks on the second page of their 2012 calendar.
Here’s one that should be easy to keep: Resolve to start treating your IT network as the business resource it really is. Amazingly – or maybe not – many companies still need to get hit with a bigger stick when it comes to realizing the great business potential they have right at their fingertips (ahem, your computer network). Taking the steps required to turn your network from a cost center into a unique competitive differentiator is not as “pie-in-the-sky” as it may sound. Read More
Well, that year flew by in a flash didn’t it? Seems like every time you turn around it’s Christmas again already – yikes! Before that happens again, I thought it might be fun to look back at a snapshot of interesting quotes surrounding the tech sector. Some are funny, some are irreverent and some are just plain irrelevant. At any rate, and in keeping with the David Letterman Top 10 styling, here are my particular faves… Read More
You always hear how Managed Services Providers (MSP) are geared to save you money on your IT expenses. Problem is, it is always the MSP who is telling you that. Just like Staples has the lowest prices – ahem, I mean Future Shop – or was it Best Buy…?
I guess what I am saying is you have to consider the source. Of course MSP’s are going to tell you that they will save you money; cost is a huge consideration after all, and they want to win your business. But this time it isn’t Syncronet (or any other MSP) shouting it out – it’s a huge non-profit, well-known, independent and trustworthy organization called the Computer Technology Industry Association aka CompTIA. Read More
I’ve noticed an interesting trend of late that, in my humble opinion, is long overdue: the notion that IT support shouldn’t just be about keeping the network up and running anymore. And that if your provider is only looking to accomplish this, they (and by extension you) have missed the boat entirely. The reality is, IT support is only one of several roles you should expect help with from your service provider – a large one albeit – but only one of many roles.
As is often the case with thinking outside the Inbox, a paradigm shift is required to reposition information technology from the tired cliché of pocket protector wearing nerds, to an integral piece of the strategic planning process and ultimately, IT as a competitive differentiator. Read More
Deciding on a backup strategy is not simple or easy – contrary to what online backup websites would have you believe. It takes careful consideration; what to backup and to where, how long to keep it, how quickly can I get it back if I need to, can I restore my entire business in the event of catastrophe… The list goes on. So what to do? Well, there are three key questions that, once answered should pave the way for the rest of your strategy:
Here’s some questions for you: Did you buy fire insurance for your house or business last year? Did anything burn down? No?Are you angry about that? Didn’t think so. Here’s another question for you: Are you intending on buying fire insurance this year? Thought so. Obviously, those of us who have it within our means wouldn’t dream of rolling without fire insurance for home or business. OK – last question: Do you have insurance against the #1 killer or successful businesses and / or do you know what the #1 business killer is? Answer: Downtime – or to be more accurate – unplanned downtime.
The most popular method of business communication is by far and away (wait for it…) – email! Wow, what a revelation – now tell me something I don’t know.
While that certainly is no a-ha moment, email leaves a helluva lot to be desired as a method of communication. It has become the easy way out to NOT have to make a phone call or have a face to face meeting over a difficult subject (coward!) and it has also made us all fat and lazy. Don’t believe me? Then answer me this: how many times have you sent an email to your work mate down the hall or even right next door? I’m betting that 99% of you do it regularly – I know I catch myself doing it all the time. Alas… what happened to the good old days when people used to talk, face to face, where body language takes its rightful place as the true determiner of what the spoken word REALLY means? You can’t do body English in an email, at least not yet.